THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The three phone lines at Thrani, a counselling centre in the city that has been offering 24-hour phone-in counselling to students, have been ringing non-stop since Sunday night.

The counsellors at Thrani are now used to being on their toes at least 48 hours prior to the publication of SSLC examination results. The past few years, the centre has been handling on an average 2,500 calls around the time when SSLC results get published.

This year, however, there is one difference. Apart from anxious parents and depressed students, there have been a number of calls from students who are totally confused about their grades.

"We have had many children calling us to ask whether a D grade means a pass or fail; something that we had not reckoned on. That apart, it has been business as usual and we have managed to persuade many children not to contemplate running away and parents to give a lot of emotional support to their children," a counsellor said.

He said the hype surrounding SSLC examinations is something that surpasses any other examination. Except for a few odd calls, CBSE's Class X or XII results normally do not generate such a distressed response from either the parents or the students.

One good change that has come about is that parents are more receptive to counselling and often take the initiative to bring the children to the counsellors. The parents of children who sound very depressed over the phone are contacted and asked to come along with their children for extended sessions.

"Children become anxious and depressed, wondering how they will face their parents. Their biggest fear is also rejection by adults in the family. We tell parents specifically not to express their anger or depression over their child's examination results by giving them the sullen or silent treatment," one of the team members of Thrani said.

She said that despite reports about increasing stress levels and depressive disorders among adolescents, schools were yet to wake up to the need for having in-house counsellors or psychologists.

"We need to reach out to schools and counsel students about life skills. Trained psychologists should be available in all schools," a psychologist here said.